tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35467553328959140292018-11-19T10:15:53.850+00:00Stuff that occurs to meA bit of a miscellany, with some fairly useful 'how to' posts too.Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.comBlogger755125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-69405880795135469522018-11-15T12:13:00.002+00:002018-11-15T12:44:26.955+00:00Actions you can take to register your disaffection with BrexitI'd like to call this post 'Actions you can take to stop Brexit' but that would be a bit naive so the weasel-worded version will have to stand for now.
Petitions you might like to sign
Demand a people's vote
https://www.peoples-vote.uk/
If there is no agreement to leave the EU then brexit must be stopped
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/219905 - at time of writing 109,189 signatures
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-28279426047299569382018-11-11T20:37:00.000+00:002018-11-11T20:40:51.383+00:00I've written to my MP asking him to support a People's VoteI've written the following to my MP and as it was sent via an online form I've learned to capture a copy of the text before sending as there's no guarantee that the form will automatically CC me. Normally I just send a copy of the email to myself but I thought others might like to see it.
As far as I'm aware my MP accepts that Brexit is happening and is supporting it. I wish I'd added in my Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-62305379099339651172018-10-12T01:13:00.002+01:002018-10-12T17:37:41.065+01:00A lovely evening #scicomm event at the Royal Geographical Society, marking Galapagos Day
Thanks to a post published to psci-com (a mailing list I run for people involved in public engagement with science / science communication) I went along to an absolutely brilliant event last night (Wed 10 Oct 2018) at the Royal Geographical Society in South Kensington. It was organised by the Galapagos Conservation Trust and the talks were audio recorded (whether they'll be made publicly Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-41118026906517470342018-10-03T13:17:00.000+01:002018-11-17T00:00:31.482+00:00Christmas 2018: How to watch #Elf in London this December
Elf (2003), best Christmas film ever. Rarely seen on regular UK terrestrial television now, due to Sky buying the rights to it in 2013 and now even Sky have lost permission from the studio to screen it as of 2017 (links to The Sun newspaper). Fortunately it is in plentiful supply in cinemas throughout the UK and there are many screenings in London over the Christmas 2018 season.
Table Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-48343371286266290712018-09-28T16:10:00.004+01:002018-10-17T20:23:54.807+01:00How my mum taught me to read when I was about threeGiven that I was 'about three' at the time my memories of this are not particularly strong 45 years on, so take this with a pinch of salt. This is what my mum told me, sadly she died in 2010 so I can't double-check anything (nor with dad who died in 2016).
Despite my early reading skills I showed no other flashes of competence (I was 19 months before I bothered with walking, my mum said she Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-87657838290594734402018-09-27T22:25:00.000+01:002018-09-27T22:25:34.529+01:00A homeopath has done a rap dissing skeptics :)This must have seemed like a good idea at the time ;)
Homeopaths are in cahootsDissing skeptics in a "rap"We shan't be quaking in our boots- it's, as expected, crap ;)https://t.co/7XaJAmqWbI #homeopathy
— Jo Brodie (@JoBrodie) September 25, 2018
You can enjoy the full thing on YouTube, lyrics below the player. Not exactly the high watermark of homeopathic discourse...
Lyrics
Well the Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-32605496885434692622018-09-27T19:45:00.000+01:002018-11-03T11:46:52.603+00:00Scientific talks in London - the 2018/2019 edition
by @JoBrodie, brodiesnotes.blogspot.com.
Interesting Talks in London (not just science), also Interesting Talks in Oxford
Blackheath Scientific Society
FRIDAY LECTURES AT 7.45pm on the THIRD FRIDAY of every month from September to May, unless otherwise indicated. MYCENAE HOUSE, 90 MYCENAE ROAD, SE3 7SE
Visitors are welcome at all meetings, and are requested to donate £3 to the Society.
Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-229415115667405072018-08-23T16:07:00.002+01:002018-08-23T16:07:43.402+01:00Let's see if we can keep Permanent EU Citizenship, even if Brexit happens w @EUcitizen2017
Vote, by 23 July 2019, for Permanent European Union Citizenship - this is an EU citizens' initiative. [Campaign website]
1. Oooh! I've been a bit wary of all these Stop-or-Mitigate Brexit-themed petitions (I worry that we're diluting stuff) but this one looks more promising.
Even despite the europa.eu URL I greeted it with the same suspicion, but have since searched for the URL on Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-25812535685189857162018-07-15T11:05:00.000+01:002018-08-07T18:49:16.280+01:00A new Wikipedia page on CEASE therapySummary: I've created (with help from other Wikipedians) a new page on Wikipedia for CEASE therapy giving a brief overview of what the therapy involves and the regulatory action that's taken place against the misleading claims made for it. (Page last updated - 29 July 2018)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CEASE_therapy
For some time I and others have been trying, not all that successfully, to Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-51929698665700527672018-07-15T00:00:00.003+01:002018-07-15T11:06:20.443+01:00Library of Things - borrow household stuff as well as booksLibraries of Things are community-run projects which let people borrow community-owned items for a small fee, for a week or so. Items can include musical instruments, camping equipment, household tools (drills, waffle-makers), arts and crafts and whatever the community makes available.
Inspired by @MooseAllain's post about a local project in Frome :) I looked for a directory and didn't find oneJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-7544503790984961092018-07-14T16:54:00.000+01:002018-07-14T20:31:02.841+01:00Learning Morse Code online
Click the pic above (or https://morse.withgoogle.com/learn) and then on Play a demo on desktop to go through the interactive Morse-learning demo. I discovered this thanks to this post from Lifehacker.
Google have arranged things so that smartphone users can type or receive a series of Morse dashes and dots. It's rather good fun and you can also do it on a desktop too (link above). The Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-9204755105176250932018-06-24T18:31:00.001+01:002018-06-24T18:31:23.616+01:00Language, jargon and communication in science - an old essay of mine from 2004/5You can pretty much guarantee that if I spot a discussion about the use (or avoidance) of jargon in discussions about science with a non-specialist audience, I'll pipe up. What I'll say - based more on feelpinions than evidence, granted - is that I think it's perfectly fine to use jargon as long as you explain what it means and that there's no real need to avoid it at all costs.
I am more Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-46123763836674765622018-06-17T23:35:00.000+01:002018-07-07T16:32:03.670+01:00New York to London (via Southampton) on Cunard's Queen Mary 2 301st Atlantic crossing (Eastbound)
"It is a bright sunny evening: the sea reflects a thousand glowing colours, and, in a minute or two, I shall be gliding on its surface" - William Beckford (also, me).
Well this is a lovely way to travel and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. Our Atlantic crossing was very smooth (the ship has a couple of 15ft stabilisers just in case it isn't) and I've had a lovely time exploring while Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-71292341750685148592018-05-30T23:44:00.001+01:002018-05-30T23:44:55.172+01:00June 2018 - London open air cinema screenings: listingsI have this great big listing of all known (to me) open air cinema screenings taking place across London on a Google spreadsheet but I thought I should post a bit of it here to 'inject' it into Google's search algorithms ;)
Currently the tally is 330+ screenings of 152 films taking place in 63 venues. Not bad! We're still to hear from St Katharine Docks floating cinema and the Rooftop Cinema Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-17460907366579970832018-05-28T12:11:00.000+01:002018-07-20T23:45:17.165+01:00The Society of Homeopaths agrees that it's unethical to claim to cure autism with CEASE
Pic credit: Water, aka Abstract Aqua Background from Pixabay
Several people have complained to the Society of Homeopaths (SoH) about their members (lay homeopaths with no medical training) making claims on their websites to cure or treat autism in children using a form of treatment (CEASE therapy aka Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression). The treatment is likely to cause harm Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-34528435918846627782018-05-14T18:48:00.003+01:002018-05-14T18:48:28.553+01:00Hearing a 'break' in white noise when you doze off / wake up - does everyone experience this?On long journeys I sometimes doze off and this is more likely to happen if I'm mostly relaxed (but still wanting to be alert so I'm ready to get off the transport) and the mode of transport is making a nice background white noise. Aircraft are amazing for this with several layers of whooshing sounds.
I'm not aware of the dozing off bit but I might suddenly become aware, when I wake with a tiny Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-56873197449453245792018-05-04T18:13:00.001+01:002018-05-04T18:17:01.796+01:00In praise of the @BFI's #BFIWhatsOn visual bulletinI love this, from the BFI (British Film Institute's cinema, Southbank, Waterloo). They've trained me to search Twitter for from:bfi #bfiwhatson if I'm near Waterloo of an evening and want to see what's on at their cinema.
The panel below comes from the search results above, restricted to images. I love the simple layout and the fact that each picture conveys every bit of information I could Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-66150004722857344272018-04-22T11:31:00.001+01:002018-04-22T11:31:48.244+01:00Misleading website health claims - anyone can send a cease and desist letter
Photo credit: aitoff on Pixabay (CC0-licence)
I have discovered something which I think I really should have known about, and which has astounded me.
Anyone can send a Cease and Desist letter to a trader who is making misleading claims. For me this would largely relate to misleading health claims, as that's my area of interest, but it would apply to anyone. This would seem to be of Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-73611248316808596672018-04-19T22:28:00.000+01:002018-05-07T01:30:20.247+01:00Open air cinema screenings in London 2018Every year I publish the known (to me) listing of all open air cinema screenings taking place in London, and I've been doing this since 2010. Let me know of ones I've missed @JoBrodie.
First, some advice on what to bring with you.
• Tickets! Make sure you print in advance, or have the e-ticket visible on your device - and make sure you know where the venue actually is (!)
• Something warm to Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-13497556000234334722018-04-17T10:57:00.001+01:002018-04-17T10:57:19.808+01:00Asterix the Gaul - exhibition in London from May to September 2018 at the Jewish Museum in CamdenAsterix! Two delightful things for fans of the fearless Gaul and his friends.
1. Musical Instruments of Antiquity as Illustrated in The Adventures of
Asterix the Gaul - a professor of acoustics gave a not-entirely-spoof
paper on the depictions of the musical instruments of the time,
apparently the descriptions of the sounds they made are pretty accurate.
He's written a bit more about it on Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-86350838819409511082018-03-16T17:38:00.001+00:002018-03-16T17:38:25.051+00:00You can watch some science-themed films at the Royal Albert Hall this yearAs part of the RAH's inaugural Festival of Science: Space (5 May to 10 July 2018) there are several film screenings happening - along with a whole bunch of other science-related events. You can "explore Space through a series of concerts, talks, screenings and comedy
events for space and sci-fi fans young and old."
Wall-E - Sunday 6 May (Elgar Room)
Science behind the movies with Roberto TrottaJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-75362456754083294162018-03-11T11:54:00.000+00:002018-03-11T12:04:19.513+00:00You can occasionally watch science-themed films at Greenwich's Planetarium
Image credit: Greenwich Park by "12019", Pixabay CC0 licence(the main exit gate into Cutty Sark is to the left of this picture)
Last night I went to see Hidden Figures at the Planetarium by the Royal Observatory near the top of Greenwich Park - it was fantastic. I had previously heard of their Silver Screen series but hadn't been along to one (though I did attend a screening of Sense and Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-17418808057170653582018-02-28T21:17:00.001+00:002018-07-28T03:45:56.676+01:00Better monitoring of homeopaths advertising CEASE therapy for autism in the UK - hoorayThere's some more good news for homeopathy skeptics in the UK and for people with autism. @UKHomeopathyReg on Twitter alerted me to this new publication yesterday...
CEASE, which stands for Complete Elimination of Autistic Spectrum Expression, is a problematic multi-stranded 'therapy' which is marketed as a treatment for autism in the UK.
There appears to be no good evidence that it has any Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-64288893527768980942018-02-11T10:22:00.002+00:002018-02-11T10:29:25.489+00:00 Scientific talks in London - 2018 edition by @JoBrodie, brodiesnotes.blogspot.com.
Interesting Talks in London (not just science), also Interesting Talks in Oxford
Blackheath Scientific Society
Mycenae House, Blackheath
Chelsea Physic Garden (Thursday Supper talks)
Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, London, SW34HS
Hampstead Scientific Society
The Crypt Room, St John's Church, Church Row, Hampstead, London NW3 6UU
HighgateJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3546755332895914029.post-53384934504378314162018-01-27T13:31:00.000+00:002018-01-27T17:25:58.220+00:00Lovely things about graphic design which I enjoyed reading
At MoMA seeing Susan Kare’s iconography- reminds me of @stevesilberman’s wonderful essay https://t.co/aTyi414NIc pic.twitter.com/Dk5WoICmw2
— simon frantz (@simon_frantz) January 27, 2018
Thanks to spotting a tweet from @simon_frantz I have just caught up with a brilliant article @stevesilberman wrote in 2012 celebrating the design work of Susan Kare. She was called in to work with Apple to Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17150960025351599805noreply@blogger.com0